World News Quick Take

Agencies

UNITED KINGDOM

Cardinal sorry over conduct

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who resigned on Feb. 25 as head of the church in Scotland, apologized on Sunday for sexual conduct which he said had “fallen below the standards expected of me.” O’Brien was the nation’s most senior Catholic cleric until he resigned last month and said he would not take part in the conclave to elect a new pope. The announcement followed newspaper allegations of inappropriate behavior with priests. “To those I have offended, I apologise and ask forgiveness. To the Catholic Church and people of Scotland, I also apologise. I will now spend the rest of my life in retirement. I will play no further part in the public life of the Catholic Church in Scotland,” he said in a statement posted on the Scottish Catholic media office Web site on Sunday.

BRAZIL

Rio police occupy slums

Security forces seized control of two crime-ridden slums near Rio de Janeiro’s international airport and seaport on Sunday, in a new bid to drive out drug traffickers ahead of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 summer Olympics. More than 1,500 police and navy commandos backed by armored vehicles punched their way into the narrow streets of the Caju complex in a dawn operation that lasted about 25 minutes and went off without a hitch. About 200 civilian police officers simultaneously occupied the Barreira do Vasco shantytown, the public security secretariat said. Police said they encountered no resistance and no shots were fired in the two shantytowns, which have a combined population of about 20,000. Twelve people were arrested and quantities of weapons and drugs were seized.

UNITED STATES

Sinkhole home partly razed

A wrecking crew on Sunday partly razed a Florida house where a sinkhole had swallowed up a man as he slept, but the demolition team went about its job as carefully as possible to preserve the home’s contents for survivors. Rescue workers had given up the search for Jeff Bush, 37, on Saturday. He was officially declared “presumed dead” by county officials after disappearing into the hole, which opened up under his bedroom on Thursday night. With a few dozen family members and others watching, a boom crane clawed at the one-story home in suburban Tampa for about two hours, demolishing about half of it. The job was due to be completed yesterday. Jeremy Bush, Jeff’s brother, who had jumped into the sinkhole in a futile attempt to save him, said the family was discussing plans for a memorial service and a possible marker at the site.